The Williston Park and East Williston communities held ceremonies on Sept. 11 to remember those who lost their lives in the terror attacks on September 11 12 years ago.
More than 100 people attended a service at Kelleher Field in Williston Park to honor the fallen.
The 7 p.m. ceremony began with the color guard from American Legion Post 144, Boy Scout troops 201 and 311, the Williston Park Volunteer Fire Department and Auxiliary Police Department taking their place on the field, where they stood for the duration on the ceremony.
Nassau County Legislator Rich Nicolello remembered Peter Owens Jr., a Williston Park resident who died on Sept. 11.
“I went to the funeral for Pete Owens and I can remember the utter devastation and loss that was there. Through the speaker at the funeral and getting to know a little about him, when you multiply that by 3,000 families you get a sense of what the loss was,” Nicoello said.
“This morning I as well as most could visualize the scenes that played out as this tragic event unfolded. Emotions for all went from surprise to shock, anger, compassion, frustration and hate for those committing these atrocities, love for those affected and sorrow for many,” said Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar.
Town of North Hempstead Councilman Angelo Ferrara commended the memorial participants for keeping the memories of 9/11 alive.
“I wanna thank all of you for making a commitment that was made 12 years ago a reality every year, by not forgetting, by coming here by looking into each others eyes and understanding the pain that some of the families have felt that are here tonight,” Ferrara said.
Bill Darmstadt read off the names of the Williston Park community members who perished that day before “Taps” was played over the loudspeakers.
Pastor Chet Easton of the First Presbyterian Church of Mineola opened the ceremony by singing the National Anthem and he closed the ceremony with a brief speech.
“We gather today as a testimony that those who would do harm to our country and who would speak and act against the freedoms that we have, have not won,” he said.
When the sun set on the ceremony in Williston Park, a candlelight vigil began two blocks away on the Village Green in East Williston.
Rev. Jon Kloepfer of Community Church of East Williston led dozens of community members and village officials through a prayer.
“Help us make the right choices at this time and in all times, to pray, act and unite against the bitter fruits of division, hatred and violence. Let us rededicate ourselves to global peace, human dignity and the eradication of injustice that breeds rage and vengeance,” he said.
To close out the ceremony East Williston Mayor David Tanner led the crowd through a rendition of “God Bless America.”
“The community is here to remember those who lost their lives, the first responders and remember the innocents. All they wanted to do was go to work,” Tanner said.
Kloepfer also read the poem “The Names,” by former U.S. Poet Laureate and native New Yorker Billy Collins.
Collins wrote “The Names” on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The poem ends, “Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers/ The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son/ Alphabet of names in a green field/ Names in the small tracks of birds/ Names lifted from a hat/ Or balanced on the tip of the tongue./ Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory./ So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.”
